Starting To Ride When It Is 82, at 8 am... Can You Guess How It Went???

AHHH!!!! WHY CAN'T I HAVE A DECENT RIDE!!!

I thought getting up at 6, packing up the car, driving to Columbia, and clipping in by 8 would be early enough. Nope. Not even close. IT WAS HOT

I did my first 27.5 mile loop and felt okay. Not great, but was ready to power through.
Half way through loop 2, things were not going well and the Clif shot I just took, did not stay down - a problem I have never had before and my nutrition plan has been the same for the past few months... After I littered a bit, I felt a little better and kept going - not that I had a choice. On the stop sign before a large hill it said Don't above and Believin below. So I then had Journey's Don't Stop Believin up the hill. That actually helped. Until I made it to the top with a side stitch and left more Clif Shot and Accelerade on the side of the road.

Sorry Columbia!!!

I decided that the extra hour just wasn't going to happen and just focus on getting back to the car. I got stopped at a stop light, clipped out on the right, even put my foot down, but somehow still fell over and saw stars... That confirmed the decision to stop the ride.

I get back to the car, open the doors, turn on the AC and smell something... My Bag Balm that I had left on the passenger seat, apparently on its side, MELTED ALL OVER!!! There was a nice puddle on the back of the seat, dripping down to the floor on the back. So Marcus went from smelling like chain lube to Bag Balm. Just not good.

After some time in the AC of the car, I started to feel better. I decided to head to Beach Drive to finish up the ride. I know it's not the same as doing 5 hours straight, so I added an extra 30 minutes.

Overall, one 4 hour ride, 55 miles. One 90 minute ride, 20 miles. Slow, hot, seeing stars, littered a bit in Columbia, MD, and just HOT (and not in the good way). Not the 5 straight hours I had hoped for, but hopefully next weekend...